Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

Who makes the strongest, most powerful, most durable snow blower?  Price isnt an issue.  I want to buy a new one and wanted to know who is the best of the best

Honda makes the most impressive LOOKING machine. The 1132 track model is impressive looking but hard to handle because of the tracks especially maneuvering  in tight places. The servo electric driven wheel models are not available in the USA.

The Ariens 1336DLE  can throw 96 tons per hour and has a 12v battery start and I would consider it more reliable than the Honda due to the complexity of the Honda  hydro (or servo driven wheels). In my book, reliability is more important than impressive looking.

But....if you got the money and a large property...then go for it!.

newjerseybt wrote:

Complexity is one thing, but if its built right and doesn't have issues I don't see it being an issue about reliability.

Hi Loudsubz:

I guess the reason I am wary is that I own a 2003 Honda HRC216 commercial 21" hydro mower and I have been losing ground speed for the last 2 years. I never lost fluid and have made a hydro cable adjustment already. It seems I lost about 1 mph  the last  2  summers. I expect the ground speed to be 3.5MPH to make the hydro cost effective. A new Hydro is about $350. ...

You ought to look at the Simps and Snappers for quality also!!

They make great equipment!!

                                                     Fred

Regarding fluid breaking Down:

The mower is only used for residential use so I don't think that is an issue for a 2 year old mower.

Maybe it is more noticeable in the Fall. I like to use the mower at 25 degrees to suck up leaves. I have snow right now so I am going to wait till next year.  Maybe I should have bought an Arien's commercial mower with the disk drive instead. (20/20 hindsight) Nothing cheaper than replacing a friction disk for $6.00 on a snowblower or mower. 

I see no need for a infinatly variable spped transmission on  a snowblower.

The regular 5 speed disk drive is robust, inexpensive to maintain, and ofers plenty of low end torque for deep snow or high speed for transport.

And yes, try to move a teack honda without starting it . Its a fight. Disk drive units will roll easily.

Have you ever actually tried out a Honda snowblower?  That infinitely variable hydro tranny is light years ahead of "disk drives".  No use for a CVT tranny on a snowblower?  What if you want to crawl beside the house and then take off at a faster speed?  The disk drive requires that you come to a complete stop, shift in to a higher gear, then start again.  With the Honda, you can seemlessly shift speeds on the fly, no stopping.  There really is no comparison.  I could never go back to a disk drive tranny.  Everyone who has tried out my Honda says the same.

Just the crawl factor of that Honda tranny is amazing.  As slow as you want to go, awesome.  Is there a chance of expensive failures?  Sure, there's a chance.  But my friend owns a Honda dealership, and has not seen one single failure since Honda introduced the Hydro tranny in 97 or 98.  They are bulletproof.

While I would love a hydro setup, once you become swift with the disc-o-matic you can pop through the gears easily.